A typical disc drive includes a housing that encloses a variety of disc drive components. The components include one or more rotating discs having data surfaces that are coated with a medium for storage of digital information in a plurality of circular, concentric data tracks. The discs are mounted on a spindle motor that causes the discs to spin. Sliders carry transducers, which write information to and read information from the data surfaces of the discs. The slider and transducer are often together referred to as the “head.” An actuator mechanism moves the heads from track to track across the surfaces of the discs under control of electronic circuitry. The actuator mechanism includes a track accessing arm and a suspension for each slider. The suspension includes a load beam and a gimbal. The load beam provides a preload force, which forces the slider toward the disc surface. The gimbal is positioned between the slider and the load beam, or is integrated in the load beam, to provide a resilient connection that allows the slider to pitch and roll while following the topography of the disc.
The slider includes a slider body having a leading edge, a trailing edge and an air bearing surface (ABS) which faces the disc surface. As the disc rotates, the disc drags air under the slider along the air bearing surface, which creates a hydrodynamic lifting force that causes the slider to lift and fly above the disc surface. The transducer is typically mounted at or near the trailing edge of the slider.
Generally, the slider is attached to the gimbal with an adhesive droplet deposited on the back surface of the slider, which is opposite the ABS. Current equipment, for depositing an adhesive droplet on the slider body, is designed to deposit a predetermined size of adhesive. This predetermined size is large enough to detrimentally change the shape of the slider body causing the slider body to perform improperly. In addition, the adhesive tends to spread to the edges of the slider and interferes with sensitive areas on the slider. For example, the adhesive droplet can interfere with the transducer. In some cases, reducing the size of the droplet of adhesive would eliminate these problems. However, current equipment deposits the smallest adhesive droplet as possible. Further development and modifications to the current equipment are unknown and would be costly.
Embodiments of the present invention provide solutions to these and other problems, and offer other advantages over the prior art.